Last week, five Americans – Ahmed Abdullah Minni, Umar Farooq, Aman Hassan Yemer, Waqar Hussain Khan, and Ramy Zamzam (all from the Northern Virginia area just outside of Washington, DC) – were arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks. The five were allegedly in touch with a Taliban recruiter for several months and went to Pakistan just after Thanksgiving to try and join up with al-Qaeda. According to Mustafa Abu Maryam, youth coordinator of the mosque they attended in Alexandria, VA, "I have always known these kids as fun-loving, career-focused children that had a bright future for themselves. As far as I know they were wholesome kids. Very goofy. You know, talked about girls. Very wholesome." Farooq was an accounting student at George Mason University. Zamzam (thought to be the leader of the group) was a dental student at Howard Univeristy. By all accounts they all seemed pretty normal – or at least they didn’t exhibit any outward signs of being would-be terrorists. So there is understandably much hand-wringing over how and why these five young men could – if proven to be true – have been converted to the cause of al-Qaeda and radical Islam.

During the Bush administration we were constantly told that they, i.e., the terrorists, attacked us on 9/11 because they hate us for who we are. In other words, because they hate freedom and democracy, our way of life, our culture, our values. There doesn’t seem to be much evidence that Minni, Farooq, Yemer, Khan, and Zamzam hated America. If they really hated America, why would they go to Pakistan to wage jihad rather than trying to blow something up here?

Rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons (i.e., Iran),

Democracy (ironic given that the speech was in Egypt which is a democracy in name only),

Religious freedom,

Women’s rights, and

Economic development and opportunity.

Again, there isn’t much evidence that any or all of the above were motivating factors for the five young men now being held in Pakistan.

The answer – which is a microcosm for larger U.S. foreign policy – is staring us straight in the face. And, like we do with foreign policy, we want to ignore it.

Reportedly, the group made what is described as a farewell video (but not necessarily a martyrdom suicide terrorism video) with reference the ongoing conflicts in the world (presumably Iraq and Afghanistan) and that young Muslims had to do something to defend Muslims. According to Pakistani authorities, the young men men "were of the opinion that a jihad must be waged against the infidels for the atrocities committed by them against Muslims around the world."

In other words, Minni, Farooq, Yemer, Khan, and Zamzam appear to have been motivated by what we do. In simple terms, because our policies result in actions that kill Muslims. Harvard professor Steven Walt did a back-of-the-envelope (and conservative, i.e., low end) calculation and came up with the number 288,000 for how many Muslims the United States has killed in the last 30 years (in contrast, Walt calculates that Muslims have killed about 10,000 Americans over the same time period – 2,800 of which were the result of the 9/11 attacks). He provides plenty of caveats:

The United States is not solely responsible for some of those fatalities, most notably in the case of "excess deaths" attributable to the U.N. sanctions against Iraq.

The United States is not solely to blame for the sectarian violence that engulfed Iraq after the 2003 invasion.

The fact that people died as a result of certain U.S. actions does not by itself mean that those policy decisions were wrong.

Even with the caveats, the numbers can’t be ignored. So why is it so hard for us to understand that Muslims – perhaps including the five young men from Northern Virginia – would be motivated to become terrorists?

Because it’s hard to acknowledge to ourselves that terrorism is a consequence of U.S. policy choices and actions. No one wants to be accused of hating America, claiming that America is at fault, or saying that America deserves to be attacked – all of which are not true. But confusing fault and blame with cause and effect only results in continuing to come up with the wrong answers.

For example, New York Times columnist Tom Friedman claims that the problem is what he calls "the Narrative" of anti-American jihad. According to Friedman:

The Narrative is the cocktail of half-truths, propaganda, and outright lies about America that have taken hold in the Arab-Muslim world since 9/11. Propagated by jihadist Web sites, mosque preachers, Arab intellectuals, satellite news stations and books – and tacitly endorsed by some Arab regimes – this narrative posits that America has declared war on Islam, as part of a grand "American-Crusader-Zionist conspiracy" to keep Muslims down.

In other words, in Friedman’s view the problem is Muslims. So the solution would have to lie with changing Muslims and the Muslim world (no surprise coming from someone who was a cheerleader for invading Iraq).

But what Friedman conveniently ignores are two undeniable facts (not half-truths, propaganda, and outright lies) about the Narrative:

The United States is an occupier in Muslim countries (this was true even before the decision to invade Iraq and one of the primary grievances cited by Osama bin Laden in his calls to Muslims to make America a target for terrorism).

The United States supports authoritarian and oppressive regimes in Muslim countries (another grievance cited by bin Laden).

Throw in the undeniable fact that U.S. military action has resulted (and continues to result) in killing Muslims (even if sometimes justified) and you have a pretty potent cocktail for recruiting terrorists.

There is one thing Friedman gets right: "Many Arab Muslims know that what ails their societies is more than the West, and that The Narrative is just an escape from looking honestly at themselves." But if Friedman truly understood The Narrative, he would understand that the only way for Muslims to look honestly at themselves (and not give their ruling governments an easy way to, in his words, "deflect onto America all of their people’s grievances") is to remove the United States from the equation. In other words, we need to stop trying to be part of the solution and understand that we are part of the problem.

201202789128 Responseshttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2Fpena%2F2009%2F12%2F17%2Fmotivation-for-jihad%2FMotivation+for+Jihad2009-12-18+06%3A00%3A49Charles+V.+Pe%C3%B1ahttp%3A%2F%2Foriginal.antiwar.com%2F%3Fp%3D2012027891 to “Motivation for Jihad”

The problems with the Islamic world have been going on long before the USA even existed.

Hadith Malik 511:1588 The last statement that Muhammad made was: “O Lord, perish the Jews and Christians. They made churches of the graves of their prophets. There shall be no two faiths in Arabia.” (During the caliphates of the first four Caliphs this edict was fully carried out and all non-believers were removed from Arabia.)

The motivation for jihad is Islam itself and there will never be true peace because of Islam.

Friedman is a Zioinst Jew – what would you expect from him? Thomas Jefferson said: "I tremble for my country because God is just and His justice will not rest forever." For every action there is a reaction – a basic law of physics and of life. IF we would stop killing tens of thousands of them by invading their countries, by occupying their countries, by destroying their countries – maybe just maybe there would not be a 'blowback'?

The modern Western world is built on and, by flagrant colonialism. This notion of hatred of the Western "way of life" by the Muslims, is the British way of injecting some confidence into America while tutoring America in their desire to be successful colonist. At any rate, it is very hard to see how America or Britain or the entire European culture can change their essence. They have made their lives on colonialism and theft of other peoples' lands and resources. America is built on stolen land. Most of Europe will starve to death if it cannot continue to do that. Yes, America is capable of doing great things, but that one is far, far beyond anything that America can lay a claim to even in the most optimist's wildest dreams. That is just not America, i.e. The same "shining city on the hill", Americans like to brag about all the time.

"When a Jew has a Gentile in his clutches, another Jew may go to the same Gentile, lend him money and in turn deceive him, so that the Gentile shall be ruined. For the property of a Gentile, according to our law, belongs to no one, and the first Jew that passes has full right to seize it."

Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat 156"

"To communicate anything to a Goy about our religious relations would be equal to the killing of all Jews, for if the Goyim knew what we teach about them, they would kill us openly."

Libbre David 37

"If a goy killed a goy or a Jew he is responsible, but if a Jew killed a goy he is not responsible."

Tosefta, Aboda Zara, VIII, 5

"Kill the Goyim by any means possible."

Choshen Ha'mishpat 425:50

"Everyone who sheds the blood of the impious [non-Jews] is as acceptable to God as he who offers a sacrifice to God."

Yalkut 245c

"Extermination of the Christians is a necessary sacrifice."

Zohar, Shemoth

"Tob shebbe goyyim harog – Even the best of the Goyim (Gentiles) should be killed."

Soferim 15, Rule 10

nice try you hasbara shill but your racist ideology has disdain for every non-jew that bleeds through their racist religious text non-stop.

Welcome to the reality of strongly persistent, hegemonistic, self-replicating belief systems. One of their features is that they demand that people who are not (yet) in the thrall of said belief system be declared enemies, possibly mortal enemies. Ring a bell?

Anyway, Spain under Muslim control wasn't so bad I hear. People got along:

Welcome to the reality of strongly persistent, hegemonistic, self-replicating belief systems. One of their features is that they demand that people who are not (yet) in the thrall of said belief system be declared enemies, possibly mortal enemies. Ring a bell?

Anyway, Spain under Muslim control wasn't so bad I hear. People got along:

"As usual in the Arab world, everyone knew what was happening and no one said a thing. The British and American pilots flying the pointless southern "no-fly" zone ­ allegedly to protect Iraq's minorities ­ could clearly see the receding waters of the Marsh. The Arab regimes remained silent. Neither Mubarak nor Arafat nor Assad nor Fahd uttered the mildest word of criticism, any more than they did when the Kurds were gassed."

-Qa'ida (The Base)
Al-Qa'ida is multi-national, with members from numerous countries and with a worldwide presence. Senior leaders in the organization are also senior leaders in other terrorist organizations, including those designated by the Department of State as foreign terrorist organizations, such as the Egyptian al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya and the Egyptian al-Jihad. Al-Qa'ida seeks a global radicalization of existing Islamic groups and the creation of radical Islamic groups where none exist.

Al-Qa'ida supports Muslim fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, Tajikistan, Somalia, Yemen, and Kosovo. It also trains members of terrorist organizations from such diverse countries as the Philippines, Algeria, and Eritrea.

Al-Qa'ida's goal is to "unite all Muslims and to establish a government which follows the rule of the Caliphs." Bin Laden has stated that the only way to establish the Caliphate is by force. Al-Qa'ida's goal, therefore, is to overthrow nearly all Muslim governments, which are viewed as corrupt, to drive Western influence from those countries, and eventually to abolish state boundaries.http://www.fas.org/irp/world/para/ladin.htm

Same old same old from the identical hasbara troll with his 10th different name. You might want to change the code where you say the SAME damn thing every time. "you forgot your meds". well you must've forgotten when bombing UN hospitals and the usage of white phosphorus and depleted uranium was considered a WAR CRIME. Or what about the inability for the "opposition leader" Tzipi Livni from traveling the UK because she didn't want to get arrested for being a war criminal. Even the people that lose your elections are running scared outside of the US and their own apartheid country for war crimes commited. The veil is being lifted from your racist atrocities, better find a new job aside from zionist web troll once you can't leech anymore US tax dollars to pay your megaphone salary. You want some "mainstream" coverage of how your apartheid "country" wins the propaganda war? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-zogby/how-isr…

anyone who is curious about the paid hasbara megaphone initiative look at this website:

Consider what happened on Aug. 14. Four jihadist suicide-bombers blew themselves up in two Iraqi villages, killing more than 500 Kurdish civilians — men, women and babies — who belonged to a tiny pre-Islamic sect known as the Yazidis.

I've been enjoying your posts here taking apart the clowns working for the Dept. of Hasbara. I know it's not hard to make fools out of these trolls, but you really are doing an excellent, informative job of it.

When you know they're out there, these sneaky creatures are quite easy to recognise (your 12 point list, from a previous post, on their M.O. is bang on), and then it's not hard to draw them out of their dark hidey-holes with a few choice words and phrases. This will get them rushing out of their lairs in a fury of hissing and spitting, impressive for its hateful onslaught, but take them by the scruff and hold 'em up to the light and you soon see they are really quite comical. However, be aware: playing with these creatures can be dirty business and petting them is not advised, so if you choose to follow some of their links be prepared to take a long, hot shower afterwards.